As our "reality show" continues and the ever changing group dynamics shift and evolve, the feeling that the end is in sight comes more and more to the surface. We've all grown a little tired and are starting to focus more on where we're heading after our Shanghai departure.

I'm on a plane right now with Ola, heading from Shanghai over to Seoul for the weekend. For the first time since I was a child, the cigarette smoke is making me feel a little ill; despite being a "non-smoking" flight, there's apparently a steady stream of it which is making it hard to sleep. So, this seemed like the perfect time to get caught up on some of the goings on of the past two weeks.

When I last wrote we were heading to Hangzhou for a work-hosted day trip. While getting up at 6am on a weekend is difficult, it's always nice to see a new city. Hangzhou is specifically famous for the scenic West Lake. The Chinese say that it's the most beautiful place on Earth, and there's no place like it; they've obviously never been to Muskoka. It was certainly lovely, but there's something about going for nature hikes around a lake in the pouring rain that leaves a little to be desired. Over all it was a good day. We ate well, saw some temples and stone carved Buddha's and got a little soggy.

The rest of the week was mostly typical. We shopped. We ate. We went to work. We had some drinks. The following weekend, Ola and Paul both went away leaving Anthony and me living solo. We kept ourselves well entertained by going for drinks (most of which turned to be free), trying the Chinese delicacy Carl's Junior, taking long walks to Yu Gardens and the Bund and having a wonderful pancake breakfast with Bethany, our new American friend.

The only other remarkable thing that occurred this week was our participation in the school wide choir competition. Our bosses decided that having their "foreign teachers" join in with the group that had been practicing for a full year, would add some prestige to their entry. At the last minute they even decided to pull two of us (one of whom was me) out of the chorus and put us up front. Considering that we were unrehearsed and about 5 beats ahead of the music for half of the song, I guess you wouldn't call it disastrous- just bad. And yet our glowing North American faces must have had some sort of impact since we ended up coming in a very undeserved 2nd place. Whatever…happy bosses equals happy teachers!!!

We've just gotten onto the bus to head to our hotel and then will be meeting Trevor and Estelle for dinner. What an excellent way to spend a weekend! The Korea update will be coming soon.